Tom Cotton still mum on marriage details

Despite repeated requests, no further details have emerged about Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton’s marriage over the weekend. His office hasn’t responded to requests for basic info — time, place, bride’s full name and biographical information. One other question arises: Did he retain a once-expressed appreciation for “covenant marriage”?

Cotton distributed Sunday a photo of himself and his new wife, Anna, via Instagram, but said little. He was photographed in the company of Anna Peckham at an American Enterprise Institute event last year and a woman by that name is a lawyer with Republican political credentials that would seem a good philosophical match for the congressman. Perhaps High Profile will have more this coming Sunday.

In the meanwhile, one other question is raised by Cotton’s opinion column writing on love and marriage while a student at Harvard. He wrote then about his informal survey of women students, whom he said had a great fear of being left by husbands. He had some ideas, including improving men. He praised the Promise Keepers movement in that respect. He wrote about the ills of feminism and no-fault divorce. Men might choose divorce “thoughtlessly,” he wrote, and it often leaves women worse off financially. Said Cotton:

…we have state politicians, most of whom are men, taking on no fault divorce. Louisiana recently became the first state to attack this 1970’s innovation. Louisiana’s new law creates something called “covenant marriage.” Couples who choose a covenant marriage undergo counseling before they marry and can divorce only with fault, defined as abandonment, physical abuse, adultery or conviction of a capital crime. State legislator Tony Perkins, the author of the law (and an active member in PK), expects covenant marriages will soon account for half of all new marriages in Louisiana. Many states are expected to follow Louisiana’s lead.

Presumably, women should encourage such developments since divorce leads to their “greatest fear in life.” And most women probably do support them, but not the putative potentates of feminism.

He concluded:

Ordinary women must not only defend these men against feminism, but also demand that all other men accept the lifelong nature of marriage. If not, one-half of all women who marry see their “greatest fear” come true. If so, they can have their “deepest hopes” fulfilled.

So. Did Cotton enter a covenant marriage? If he married in Arkansas, it has been available here since 2001, when Gov. Mike Huckabee led its adoption. It has never really caught on to the extent its Louisiana sponsor predicted, though. (Speaking as someone nearing year 38, I can testify it is possible to remain happily married without benefit of the “covenant” process.)

UPDATE: KFSM confirms the bride is Anna Peckham, who grew up in rural Nebraska and is described as a Virginia lawyer. She will become Anna Cotton. No locale of the Saturday wedding revealed. Or if it was a covenant marriage. Said KFMS:

The couple will take a short honeymoon during the congressional recess and ultimately live and raise a family in Arkansas.